Low powered, spin friendly, soft string?

Hi, right now I'm using Ytex Quadro Twist, as I feel like it is pretty soft, doesn't add too much power, and seems to produce decent spin.

Any other alternatives?

Right now I'm considering trying:

Weiss Cannon Ultra Cable
Cyclone Tour 17
Hyper G Soft?
 

eah123

Hall of Fame
I’ve not used Ytex Quadro Twist but reviews have been generally good. Why not stick with it?

The string feel you are looking for seems to match what I look for, too.
In my 3 racquets now: Volkl Cyclone Tour 16 at 50#, Hyper G Soft 16L (M) x Ghostwire 16 (C) at 50#, regular Volkl Cyclone 16 at 45#.

I also like Volkl V-Square 16 (M) x Ghostwire 16 (C) at 50#.
 

Crazy Finn

Hall of Fame
Hmm..... back when I played a lot, this was my quest as well.

An important question and factor is tension. I was a high tension guy when I played with multis and such and I tried playing polys in the mid to upper 50's - but that didn't go well for my arm. Frankly, a good poly doesn't NEED to be at a super high tension.

Anyway, back to your point. Cyclone 16 was my go to string for a while and it worked OK for me though it was hard on my arm. If I had dropped it to the low 40's for tension, maybe that would have worked. To be clear, this is plain Cyclone, not Cyclone Tour, which is/was on my list of strings to try. Cyclone Tour is supposedly softer feeling, though not quite as low powered as plain Cyclone - again, from what I've heard. There's a guy on here who is a big advocate of Cyclone Tour, maybe he'll chime in.

Other ones I tried:

Ytex Quadro Twist 16L @ 53 lbs - nice, good control, nice on the arm, not as crisp feeling as Cyclone, but much more comfortable. Good spin.
Isospeed Pyramid 16 @ 50 lbs - seemed pretty stiff when stringing, but didn't feel that way when playing. Very low powered. Decent spin.
Isospeed Cream 16L @ 50 lbs - good control, medium power for a poly, decent feel. Pretty comfy, but not as much as Quadro Twist. Round poly with ok spin. Has an odd feel, a little, but a good string for the price.
Prince Vortex 16 @ 49 lbs - Kind of just an Ok string. Good control, but not better than the others. Decent spin, but not better than Pyramid, Quadro Twist, or Cyclone. Not bad on the arm, but not super nice, either. Meh.
Tourna Big Hitter Black 7 17 @ 48 lbs - My new favorite of the above. Has nice bite on the ball, but really nice feel for a poly. Very nice on the arm. Not the lowest powered poly, but not exactly a ton of pop, either. Good spin, getting close to Cyclone.
 

Matthew Lee

Professional
Hyper-G Soft was a lot better than I thought it would be. I don't consider Hyper-G to be that stiff for my liking anyways, but the softer version felt noticeably more softer in my experience.

Same goes for Tour Bite and its softer version. But take my advice with a grain of salt; the only string I thought felt actually stiff was a poly/kevlar hybrid at 58 pounds.
 

janelgreo

Professional
I haven't tried too many poly strings compared to most but from the ones I've tried: Mayami Tour Hex, Grapplesnake Tour Sniper, Grapplesnake Game Changer (for max spin)

I found all these to be low powered but spin friendly! TH is currently my ammunition of choice for my weapons.
 

Brando

Professional
If you're a 5.0+ level player, @andytennis123 , you've been given great options above because you hit hard enough to trigger the snapback that creates poly spin.

If you're not a 5.0, you might want to consider syn gut because it's low powered, you don't have to hit so hard to unlock its spin potential, and even a regular SG's elasticity will last you almost twice as long as a premium soft poly's. Best of all, you won't have to worry about tennis elbow. Indeed the numbers don't lie...
premium Soft CopolyStiffnessTensionSpinEnergyPrice
vs. average Syn Gut​
(lbs./in.)​
Loss %​
Potential​
Return %​
USD​
Solinco Hyper G 16L172295.288$13
Babolat Syn Gut 16169175.893$5.50
Difference %(2%)(41%)12%5%(58%)
 
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If you're a 5.0+ level player, @andytennis123 , you've been given great options above because you hit hard enough to trigger the snapback that creates poly spin.

If you're not a 5.0, you might want to consider syn gut because you don't have to hit so hard to unlock its spin potential, and even a regular SG's elasticity will last you twice as long as a premium soft poly's. Best of all, you won't have to worry about tennis elbow. Indeed the numbers don't lie...
premium Soft CopolyStiffnessTensionSpinEnergyPrice
vs. average Syn Gut​
(lbs./in.)​
Loss %​
Potential​
Return %​
USD​
Solinco Hyper G 16L172295.288$13
Babolat Syn Gut 16169175.893$5.50
Difference %(2%)(41%)12%5%(58%)

I'm definitely not a 5.0, more like 4.0.

Synthetic gut is a great idea! Totally forgot about that, I actually have a set so I'll try that as a cross for my next stringing
 

jimmy8

G.O.A.T.
I vote hyper g soft.

Another I think you should try is Tourna Big Hitter Black Zone. It's round, but I think it's still spin friendly, kind of like how Poly Tour Pro is round, but is still spin friendly.

I vote yes for cross with syn gut. If you like that, I think you should try Head Velocity Natural 1.30mm as a cross in the future.
 
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Brando

Professional
If you're more like a 4.0, @andytennis123 , then may I suggest you try that syn gut set you have laying around as a fullbed strung a pound or two lower than your racquet's mid tension? As a cross, it's still not going to help poly mains move enough to then snapback unless you're positively thumping the ball on every single shot. If you don't believe me, continue to use poly until you begin to feel elbow or shoulder strain. THEN try out that fb of syn gut. That strain will disappear, you'll save yourself from permanent damage, and you'll barely (if at all) notice a performance difference from poly.
 
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DariaGT

Professional
Weiss UC is very low powered compared to soft versions of Hyper-G and TB. Its quite gooey but loses tension faster than Solinco offerings.
However UC amount of spin is unmatched for a poly when using a slippery round thin poly cross. PPs Concept 1.2mm X and UC mains is magic.
 
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Crazy Finn

Hall of Fame
If you're more like a 4.0, @andytennis123 , then may I suggest you try that syn gut set you have laying around as a fullbed strung a pound or two lower than your racquet's mid tension? As a cross, it's still not going to help poly mains move enough to then snapback unless you're positively thumping the ball on every single shot. If you don't believe me, continue to use poly until you begin to feel elbow or shoulder strain. THEN try out that fb of syn gut. That strain will disappear, you'll save yourself from permanent damage, and you'll barely (if at all) notice a performance difference from poly.
My observation from someone who's not a 4.0 is that poly snapback absolutely doesn't not matter. However, the lower power of polys (even at low 40s tension) and the extra grip from shaped polys absolutely does give more spin and control.

The trick is finding a soft poly and a low tension that it's just as comfortable (if not more) than synth gut.
 

Brando

Professional
There is researched evidence, @Crazy Finn , that you're right; shaped polys provide more spin. But here's the thing; the softer the poly, the quicker it loses elasticity and the less spin you get. Now, after 6-8 hours or so of play, you’ve played out the very reason to use poly. Truth is, most players don't change out poly until it snaps. In the hands of the average player, that happens many hours after the material has lost all of its elasticity. I wish more players knew this. But they don't. So I think it's incumbent on we who know this to spread the word to those who'll come to harm from misusing a great string material.
 

Crazy Finn

Hall of Fame
My observation from someone who's not a 4.0 is that poly snapback absolutely doesn't not matter.
Well, that was worded poorly now that I'm reading it again. You understood what I meant, though. Snapback for lower ranked players doesn't matter. We just don't generate enough racquet head speed where it matters.
There is researched evidence, @Crazy Finn , that you're right; shaped polys provide more spin. But here's the thing; the softer the poly, the quicker it loses elasticity and the less spin you get. Now, after 6-8 hours or so of play, you’ve played out the very reason to use poly. Truth is, most players don't change out poly until it snaps. In the hands of the average player, that happens many hours after the material has lost all of its elasticity. I wish more players knew this. But they don't. So I think it's incumbent on we who know this to spread the word to those who'll come to harm from misusing a great string material.
Coming from a guy that played for years and years on synth guts and loved multis - all I know is that I could play with a lot more consistency, control, and spin with softer polys. Frankly, the difference between some of the lower tension softer polys and stiffer polys was negligible in terms of spin and mostly negligible in terms of control.

The longer I used them, the more I restrung, though. I generally played on a set for about 3-4 weeks at most. Sometimes 2-3 weeks, because I'd put a fresh set on another racquet which I'd play with and use the other as a backup.

I haven't played in a while for.... reasons. But, that's what I had figured out at the time. I was also starting to look for a softer racquet. I didn't have any arm issues once I lowered the tension to the 40's and used softer polys.
 

Brando

Professional
My experience is different @Crazy Finn . I feel that my best source of spin is me, hitting the ball with enough angular momentum to create it. Since the extra spin poly gave me (and it did yield extra spin) wasn't proportional to the speed at which it went dead on me, I've stuck with playing syn gut in a matched pair (so I have a replacement racquet on hand when it breaks).

Still I accept that your experience is different. And I dig what you said in your second paragraph. You knew enough to restring your poly before it went dead. Good on ya. I just wish other wise players like you would advise the less experienced who come to TT of the safe handling of polys while recommending the very fine ones out there.
 
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Crazy Finn

Hall of Fame
My experience is different @Crazy Finn . I feel that my best source of spin is me, hitting the ball with enough angular momentum to create it. Since the extra spin poly gave me (and it did yield extra spin) wasn't proportional to the speed at which it went dead on me, I've stuck with playing syn gut in a matched pair (so I have a replacement racquet on hand when it breaks).

Still I accept that your experience is different. And I dig what you said in your second paragraph. You knew enough to restring your poly before it went dead. Good on ya. I just wish other wise players like you would advise the less experienced who come to TT of the safe handling of polys while recommending the very fine ones out there.
Yeah, I'm not a naturally big spin player - I've had to develop that. I played for years and years recreationally being mostly a pretty flat hitter. And syth guts work fine for that. When I discovered multis, I was completely sold on them and never looked back. Unfortunately, hitting spin with a multi is.... a difficult thing. You're working very hard at it and not getting much for it. That and you have to regulate the power of your shots with a lot of care.

Those were problems I faced when playing in leagues. I simply wasn't consistent enough to really compete well. To hit with pace, I had flirt with the baseline the very limited amount of topspin I could generate with things like Babolat Xcel and Head RipControl. To reign in the power of those strings I was in the very high 50's, sometimes in the low 60's. When was introduced to polys when my friend tried Cyclone, it was a game changer. I always hated how they played and felt in the demo racquets I'd get over the years, but a fairly fresh set and suddenly I was a more consistent player.

There's NO substitution for technique, though. Most of it has been me refining my groundstrokes, but I do notice a difference in spin from various strings.
 

EggSalad

Hall of Fame
IMO, if you want arm friendly, spin friendly, control oriented, low power the best string that meets all those requirements is Mayami Tour Hex.

I feel like such a broken record on the string forum because that’s always my answer. But it is a phenomenal string for those requirements. It also holds tension well and has a very linear change in performance over time. It gets softer and more powerful but doesn’t turn into an unpredictable trampoline
 

Chairman3

Hall of Fame
Head Lynx (not Lynx Tour) nice feel, definitely softer, and good spin for a round poly.

Volkl V-Torque is a good spin string, I didn't find it to be stiff but they do make a V-torque tour which I believe is softer.

Warning on cyclone tour, it dies very very quickly, like 4-5 hours. Mine felt harsh and like it had zero power after that.
 
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